


Pure Gold Isn't Supposed to Corrode

by Ice_the_Irken



Category: Epithet Erased (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Everyone Adopts Molly, Angst, Bugs, Burning, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, I never thought the first Epithet Erased fanfiction I wrote would be of Ramsey and Zora, I'm a fluff girl I swear, Kid Zora, Kid Zora Arc, Mild Swearing, Non-Suicidal Self-Harm, dismemberment mention, mild violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-14
Updated: 2020-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:02:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24987244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ice_the_Irken/pseuds/Ice_the_Irken
Summary: Zora Salazar does not have friends.Zora Salazar does not have family.Zora Salazar does not...Zora let out a sigh, and ran a hand through her hair, repeating the phrases that were slowly starting to lose their meaning in her mind as she tried to process the past few days in her head. For now, she just needed to process, process everything, every thought, every emotion, every aching empty pang in her chest she felt when she thought about them; Molly, Percy, Sylvie, Giovanni, Mera, Indus, Howie, Ramsey......Ramsey...
Relationships: Zora Salazar&Ramsey Murdoch
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	Pure Gold Isn't Supposed to Corrode

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfiction is written specifically for @epitheterasedgen's Everyone Adopts Molly AU: True End, and takes place shortly after the Kid!Zora Arc, so anyone who doesn't follow @epitheterasedgen and hasn't read that arc, and my addition, will not understand what's going on; this was pretty much made for myself and a specific group of people, so if you want to not be completely confused as to what's going on, I suggest you check out @epitheterasedgen s' blog.

_Zora Salazar does not have friends._

_Zora Salazar does not have family._

_Zora Salazar does not..._

Zora let out a sigh, and ran a hand through her hair, repeating the phrases that were slowly starting to lose their meaning in her mind as she tried to process the past few days in her head. She ran through every memory second by second, as she sat in the deafening silence of the living room; she had asked to be alone, and they had left her alone, sitting on the couch; what she needed was to be left alone... right? ...Right. For now, she just needed to process, process everything, every thought, every emotion, every aching empty pang in her chest she felt when she thought about them; Molly, Percy, Sylvie, Giovanni, Mera, Indus, Howie, Ramsey...

...Ramsey... She had been a bit nicer to him after she turned him into a kid, taking a bit of pity on him after learning about his mother, but that was more pity than anything, now... after everything that had happened with him over the past few days, how he treated her so kindly, the fear he had of her slowly starting to fade away after it was revealed she had no memories as a kid, the fear that had instinctively seemed to return slightly after she regained her memories, and again after she turned back into an adult, and that had now seemed to slowly start to fade again now that they were... no... they were not friends.

_Zora Salazar does not have friends._

Zora remembered how he had given her a juice-box with a smile that at the time she was too naive to know was smugness, and how she had taken it with a thank you as the others stared at her in what she now knew were expressions of disbelief and then dread, and how he proceeded to give her more juice-boxes from then on with a more genuine smile. She remembered how she had climbed onto his back like a horse and clicked her heels into his ribs and yelled "Giddyup!", and how he had played along and ran through the house making goofy, completely inaccurate horse noises until he tired; the edges of her mouth tugging upward slightly at the memory before it was quickly suppressed.

_Zora Salazar does not have family._

Zora shook her head, she couldn't let her emotions win, it would just set her up for heartbreak. Right now she would just run through the memories to process it. Really, running through these memories was sort of her way of giving in just slightly, just enough to keep her sane, though she would never admit it to herself. She just ran through the memories, well, right now she had snapped herself out of focus on the memories to ground her emotions, so now she just ran through a few facts and points connected to memories of the previous days until she found a memory to latch onto to go through. She had borrowed some of Molly' clothes, everybody was really fascinated with her tooth gap for some reason, Ramsey hit his arm-

...Wait- what? Where did she learn that from? She couldn't remember any mention of Ramsey hitting his arm before she got turned into a kid, but then again... the group always tried to keep them separate... so it had to have happened when she was a kid, yeah, she learned it when she still didn't have her memories, she was starting to remember it now-

_Zora took a sip from the juice-box Ramsey had given her as she ran around the living room, trying to find where the Junebug she had let loose in the house from outside had flown off to. Ramsey was in the kitchen fixing up some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for her and himself, and had told her to go find the Junebug and put it back outside before the others got back home, and Zora had obeyed, she knew some of the others would freak out over the bug, and she was thankful that Ramsey didn't have such an intense phobia of them like some of the others seemed to have; sure he wasn't exactly a fan of them, but he didn't scream when they got anywhere close like it was a rattlesnake lunging at him. Zora looked around, before her head steadied on one direction after her ears started to pick up on a rapid **thuckthuckthuckthuckthuckthuckthuckthuck** ; she ran over to it, and sure enough, there was the Junebug, stuck between the wall and the piece of furniture Zora was now leaning over, as the clumsy bug was continually ramming itself into the wall, the sound of thucking and fluttering given from the efforts giving away its position. Zora quickly grabbed the bug, despite her baggy sleeves hanging down and effectively blocking her vision of her target when she reached out her arm; she had borrowed some of Mollys' clothes, as they were the smallest clothes they had in the house, and the others had tied the loose ends with some rubber bands to keep them from falling off. Zora brought the bug closer and held it in her closed hand for a while; she liked the way their legs felt. Zora placed the bug on her nose and let it grab on; she smiled at it cross-eyed and giggled at how its legs tickled as the beetle began to crawl up her face. The Junebug stopped crawling up for a second as it suddenly spread its wings, ready to take off, causing Zora to quickly reach up and grab the bug, she wasn't going to let it get away again. Zora pulled the bug away and stared at her hand for a moment, feeling it writhe in her closed palm. Zoras' attention was taken away from the Junebug however, as just then she heard a yelp from the kitchen followed by the clatter of silverware. Zora turned around to see Ramsey kneading his right arm with his left hand, the butter knife he had been using to spread peanut-butter on the half-made sandwich that was now lying face down on the counter, was strewn disorderly next to the now ruined sandwich, having appeared to have been dropped and subsequently causing the clattering sound Zora had heard earlier. Ramseys' face was distorted with pain, tears already pricking his eyes as he let out a long restrained groan of agony, failing in his attempts at controlled breathing, and Zora immediately grew worried; despite her current young age, she could still tell when something was wrong, she'd never seen the rat-man like this. Zora ran up to him, not letting go of the juice-box or Junebug._

_"Y' okay?" she asked worriedly once she got up to him, causing Ramsey to look up in surprise and freeze. He stayed still for a few seconds, before shaking his head, he stomped his foot on the ground forcefully before he forced out a few words,_

_"Yeah-... yeah- I'm fine." he forced out, his voice strained and lined with pain. Ramsey stood still for several more seconds, his eyes clenched shut, before suddenly leaning over as he let out another long groan that grew high-pitched as he stomped his foot repeatedly, clutching his arm with a white-knuckled grip. Before Zora could say anything else, Ramsey gave a 'be right back' that was barely intelligible, before beelining out of the kitchen towards the bathroom; Zora followed him. Ramsey reached the bathroom and picked up a device laid next to the sink, and plugged into the wall, that she didn't recognize, and turned it on. He seemed to be waiting for something for about a second before he noticed Zora standing in the doorway and turned back to her, his face shifting to frustration as he attempted to say something, but the words seemed to catch in his throat as his previous expression of pain returned. Ramsey appeared to abandon his attempt at talking to her as he turned back around and grabbed the device, he opened it up and seemed to hesitate for a moment, before suddenly pressing the flat part of the device to his right arm-_

Zora paused, eyebrows furrowing in shock and confusion,

_Did Ramsey just burn himself with the hair straightener?!_

That didn't make sense- Why would he do that?! She didn't know what it was at the time, but she did now, and she knew it would have heated up by then, it was one of those expensive ones that could heat up within about ten to twenty seconds; she definitely knew that, she had burned herself on it about four freaking times; she knew from that, that it had to have hurt like hell, so why did he do that?

_Ramsey let out a whimper and curled up again, before suddenly taking the straightener off and throwing it to the side, then quickly turning on the faucet and putting his arm under the running water. Ramsey seemed to relax gradually, slumping slightly and resting his other arm on the counter to hold him up as the water continued to run. Ramsey held his arm under the water for several more moments before finally turning the faucet off, and standing back up. Ramsey bent down and unplugged the straightener he had previously been using from the wall, and then stood and turned around to face Zora who was still standing in the doorway watching him. Zora looked at him, then to his arm, and back to his gross rat-face,_

_"Why'd you do that?" Zora asked curiously, and Ramsey stiffened slightly, remaining silent for a second before giving what seemed to be half a nervous smile and half a genuine one,_

_"Well- I uh-... it's nothing, really, my arm just hurts a bit, doing... that... helps." he explained. Zora nodded, then tilted her head,_

_"Why does yer arm hurt?" she asked, and Ramsey stiffened up even more at the question, he was silent for a few moments, a mix of worry, nervousness, and sadness growing on his face, his eyes then darting around in nervousness and thinking, before finally stuttering out a response,_

_"Well I- uh- I hit my arm- yesterday, I-I fell and hit my arm- so i-it's just kinda sore now, er- bruised, yeah." he stuttered._

_What?!_ Zora thought. _How can a simple trip and fall cause you that much pain that you resort to burning yourself?!_ Zora knew that heat helped with things like cramps, but that was just mild heat; though... she had heard that some people take it to the extreme when desperate, was that what he was trying to do? She knew now from what she remembered of his nervous behavior that he was most likely lying, and that would make sense, what kind of trip and fall could screw his arm up so bad that he'd be desperate enough to resort to burning himself?! Did someone push him down four flights of stairs?! What could possibly cause so much dam-

_Oh god-_

_Zora flipped over the fallen tree as she chased after Percy and Ramsey._

_"Percy! Unlock the cuffs, dammit! She's gonna kill us!" she heard Ramsey shout, but couldn't and didn't really focus enough on listening to hear anything they said after that, too focused on chasing them and too consumed in her rage to bother. Oh no they weren't! She wasn't going to let them take off those cuffs! She continued chasing as the two of them continued to have a conversation she wasn't listening to, when suddenly, they stopped, and Percy turned around,_ **_she starts to unlock her cuff... Zora closes in on her!_** _Zora drew her blade and readied to swing,_ **_she aims for the heart!_** _Zora slashed Percys' sword toward its owner, but she missed, instead slicing off Ramseys' arm._

_OH **GOD!**_

Did she do this?! Was that why his arm hurt?! Oh god- that would make sense- she'd heard stories of people who had limbs reattached, and even when they were reattached surgically, they never worked as good as they did before. Oh god- oh god oh god oh god o-

"Zora?"

Zoras' head shot up from its position in her hands at the sudden sound of her name, releasing her death grip on her hair, eyes coming to meet Ramseys' as he stood in front of her.

"Sorry, I just left my drink in here- are- are you okay?" Ramsey asked, concerned. Zora didn't answer for a moment, too surprised and overwhelmed in emotions, and focusing on stilling her body she hadn't previously realized was shaking. A few seconds passed before she finally formed a complete thought:

_That's what I should be asking you._

Zora looked from Ramseys' face, to his arm, and then back to him, and there's a moment of silence; the silence lasted for a few seconds before Zora sat up, reaching out and grabbing Ramseys' hurt arm, Ramsey instinctively struggling lightly against her grip before ceasing, though still tense.

"You're arm-..." Zora began, not finishing her sentence. Ramsey tensed further at her words, an almost identical mix of worry, nervousness, and sadness growing on his face, a pit of dread growing in his stomach.

"W-what...?" he stuttered out, dreading the answer. Zora stayed silent for a moment,

"I-it..." she began, not sure how to express what this was, "It was-... it-... the-... the straightener..." she finally got out, unable to think of any other way to convey the whole fiasco; Ramseys' stomach dropped at the mention,

"Z-" Ramsey began, but was cut off as Zora turned his arm over in her grip and inspected the already healing burn, she studied it for a moment, before moving her other hand and hovering it over the burn,

"Maybe I can-..." Zora began, and a small light orange glow appeared over her hand; Ramseys' eyes widened, as the sundial he had always associated with bad things appeared in front of him, the fear he had previously had of her returning in an instant as he began to struggle violently against Zoras' grip; Zora quickly tightened her grip on Ramsey on instinct when he started struggling, and she attempted to still him, gritting her teeth.

"Grrr- _Let me **GO**_!" Ramsey yelled, as he finally broke away from Zoras' grip, pulling his arm back to his chest and backing a step away. Zora felt a sudden anger rise in her chest and throat,

"Gah! Why don't y' just let me help you, ya **_RAT!_** " there was an audible impact as Ramsey was hit in the forehead with the hilt of Zoras' gun, stunning him and causing him to stumble backward; catching himself before he hit the ground, Ramsey stood in shock for a moment, before that shock melted away into anger, she had just hit him, _again_ , and here he thought they could put everything behind them, he was such a fool to ever think they could ever be friends. Zora froze as she saw what she had just done, a second wave of guilt falling over her as she reached out her hand slightly,

"R-" Zora was cut off as Ramsey suddenly answered her previous 'question',

"Because you've done **_ENOUGH!_** " Ramey yelled as he took several steps forward and shoved Zora hard in the chest, sending her stumbling backwards farther than she had sent him; catching herself before she crashed into the couch, Zora turned back to Ramsey and glared daggers into him, face full of rage. Zora opened her mouth to yell at him, but couldn't think of any rebuttal to what he had said, other than maybe cursing at him. Zora hiccuped, choking back a sob as his words finally set in; this was all her fault...

"What's going on?" a voice said, causing both Ramsey and Zora to snap their heads over to Percy, who was coming into the room after hearing the commotion. Zora shook her head and said nothing, instinctively moving her hand to wipe away tears that had yet to fall as she turned away from Ramsey completely and began to walk toward and past Percy in an attempt to flee. As Zora passed Percy, Percy instinctively reached out to grab Zoras' to stop her to ask what was wrong; Zora jerked away from Percys' outstretched hand and grabbed Percys' shoulder with both hands and forcibly pushed her to the ground; Percy fell quickly as Zora continued to pass her, before Zora was grabbed by the shoulder by Howie as he came out of the hall, having followed Percy, and stopped her. Zora struggled against Howies' death-grip without much success, as unlike Percy, Howie actually had a chance of stopping her with brute-force alone, being the only person in the house physically stronger than her. Panic shot through Zora at the feeling of being trapped, and before either of them knew what was happening-

**_BANG!_ **

_-35_

Howie was shot in the face at close range by Zora, causing him to let out a cry of pain and let go of her shoulder. Zora didn't take the time to process the terror of what she'd just done, as she continued to dash down the hall. By now, the others were wandering into the hall to investigate the noise. Zora nearly sobbed as she caught a glimpse of Molly dashing to hide behind Giovanni, hiding from Zora as she continued to flee down the hall. Zora held her breath in an attempt to stop herself from crying; she wouldn't cry; Zora Salazar does not cry.

_Zora Salazar does not have friends._

_Zora Salazar does not have family._

_Zora Salazar does not get attached._

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you guys so much for reading! Comments give me life, so if you read it please make sure to leave a comment!


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